Chpt. 3 - Ancient Mesopotamia

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Social Studies Chpt. 3 - Ancient Mesopotamia Study Guide



Mesopotamia

  • Meaning in between the rivers
  • Those rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, provided travel.
  • This land region was mostly flat with small, scrubby plants.
  • Also called the fertile cresent. It is now Iraq.

Surplus


  • Meaning they had more than what they needed to survive.
  • The civilizations could have a surplus of food, resources, and slaves believe it or not.
  • They traded thier surplus of grain for different stonger tools.




Sumer



  • Sumer was one of the first civilizations that rose around 3300 B.C.
  • Sumer was a region in southwest Mesopotamia.

City-State



  • A community that included a city and its nearby farmlands.

Ziggurat

  • The largest and most important structure in the Sumerian city was the ziggurat temple. It was the center of the city, and acted as a city hall.
  • The priests had a lot of control in the city-state. First they were allowed in the top level in the ziggurat because people believed they had a connection to the gods. Priests were also able to control the crop surplus given to them from the people. But with this power the priests also had to run the irrigation systems. After Priests, Kings ruled the city-state because they provided protection such as armys around the tall walls.

Writing
  • One type of writing was cuneiform, this type of writing had 600 symbols and looked like wedged shapes. So few people could read or write, that was the job of a scribe.
  • Though the first type of writing was called pictograph, which was picture writing. It was invented by 3000 B.C. for buisness records, and to label goods. They were first written on clay tokens with the image of a product on it so the people knew what was in containers.

Social Classes

  • There was 3 main social classes in Sumer.
  • LOWER CLASS- the lower class was made up of all slaves. Slaves could be orphan children, or people who borrowed more money than they could pay back. Most slaves were taken prisoner during war.
  • MIDDLE CLASS- the middle class contained all free people. Most Sumerians were in this class as it contained artisans, farmers, and fishermen.
  • UPPER CLASS- the upper class contained priests, scribes, and kings. It also contained rich merchants. This group was well respected because it had more power.
  • Women could be in any of the three classes.